I am in shock over this. Additionally scared, sad and confused. Yesterday at the high school down the road from us a teenage boy was shot and killed. He was a 16 y/o student who reportedly had a form of autism. He entered the school shortly after classes had started and asked to speak to the police officer who is stationed on campus. He pulled out a knife and stabbed the officer several times, to which the officer responded by shooting him. The boy died shortly after being taken to the hospital. The officer was treated and released a few hours later. As if this isn't disturbing enough last year or the year before (I forget which) an 18 y/0 student was shot and killed in her car by her boyfriend at the same school. Next year my oldest dd is going to high school and I was terrified as it is, but now I am beyond words scared. I want to pull her out and homeschool her with her younger sisters (who I already homeschool) but she wants to go to high school. I think it is so sad these days that schools are so unsafe.
This is the kind of thing that goes on at the high school Public one, here thats why we went the private school route for my oldest when he needed to be taught by someone else. Check your area. some schools have scholarships too so dont let financial strain be a problem. There are also scholarships online for high school students! So check those out too! There has to be a way to keep yur dd safe.
This is just me.... but if stuff like that was going on at the hs that my dd would be going to - it wouldn't be up to her if she would go. Her safety would be my #1 concern period. Our hs is actually pretty mellow - but I still probably won't be sending them to it (even though by the time they would start we would have a new school). DS thinks he wants to go to hs at the public school and I just don't see it happening.
You may want to talk to your daughter about this. If she wanted to go on a train that went over a dilapidated broken bridge that had a 50% failure rate, would you risk her life by letting her on that train? I know we can't protect our kids all the time from everything, but you do have the power to help her make the right decisions, or show her how you need to step in as a parent (this is your right after all, for now at least) and show her the way when she cannot. There is more to violence in high school, there are drugs, peer pressure, cliques, emotional scarring - it is not just her physical health, but her mental and emotional health as well. I just spoke to my son about this, and I referenced his child's heart. I told him that there are so many thing out there that can wound his heart, bruise it, and I want to prevent that as much as possible. The more wounded a child's heart is, the more quickly a child grows up, and once childhood is lost, it is gone forever. We homeschool to protect his heart and allow him to be a child as long as he can. Why would anyone want to intentionally bruise their child's heart? That is how I look at a lot of things with my kids - will this wound their heart? Good luck with your daughter. Be sure to let her know, however, that you know what is best for her as her mother. She is only thinking of the short-term fun, not the long term life, as you are.
Now that I have started homeschooling I have no doubts this is the best thing for my DS. He was so hurt at each school he has attended. My warm natured, social, boyant boy was changed by attending public school. I now have the job of bringing all those qualities back to his personality. They are still there, he just needs the confidence back. After working so hard to do this I am not going to place him back into the PS system for them to damage him again. The kiddos that are in the system think that is the best thing for them. Even if they have problems they only talk about what is good for them. Your DS or DD will hear only the fun activities. It is our nature to not talk about what troubles us. So the other students don't talk about the bullies, the teachers who don't care, the system that rewards the "Good" student - leaving the others behind or left out. They don't talk about the cruelty of the other students in the school. I'm fine with the fact the my DS won't have to worry about fitting in the "Click". He has thanked me for teaching him at home. He said the teacher never explained things like this to him. I can see him leaping ahead with his studies. As he gains confidence he progresses faster. He has a natural curiosity and suggests areas to study that are actually harder than what I had planned. I can only see this getting better. There is no way I want him to return to an atmosphere that damages the majority of the students there, if even in a small way. I know that your child thinks they will be missing out by not attending the high school. It won't be easy if you decide to put your foot down and do homeschooling with her. Let her know that by homeschooling, if she applies herself, she can graduate as soon as she is ready and attend a good college. Maybe you could look into an area homeschooling program that may contain activities similar to high school. Like the various dances. Good luck with whatever you decide.
